The Commission's proposals for a regulation and directive to facilitate access to electronic evidence (see EUROPE 12003/18) may well be approved under the Croatian EU Council Presidency. It is in any case in this sense that Croatia, which took over from Finland on 1 January, is committed to implementing.
The EU Council has already adopted its position on the Regulation in December 2018 (see EUROPE 12155/6) and on the Directive in February 2019 (EUROPE 12204/38). The European Parliament, for its part, wanted to take its time and scrutinise all the implications of the Regulation, which it considered to be very badly drafted (see EUROPE 12227/8). It should soon be in a position to adopt its position, thus allowing inter-institutional negotiations to begin - negotiations which Croatia intends to conclude by June.
It will also closely follow the negotiations on the conclusion of an agreement between the EU and the USA on cross-border access to electronic evidence (see EUROPE 12376/12).
With respect to civil justice, Croatia is aiming for a 'trilogue' agreement - possibly as early as March - on the Regulation aimed at the digitisation of cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the field of the gathering of evidence and on the Regulation on the service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters via electronic means (see EUROPE 12382/1).
The country also hopes to make progress on the proposal for a Regulation on the law applicable to the enforceability of assignments of claims, which has been giving the Member States a hard time for almost two years (see EUROPE 12265/11). According to its provisional timetable, a political agreement ('general approach') could be reached at the June Justice and Home Affairs Council.
In its programme, the Croatian Presidency also undertakes to pay particular attention to the promotion of online justice and the use of new technologies to improve access to justice.
Read the Croatian priorities: http://bit.ly/2toY1xK (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)